Manufacturing fuel gas



Oct. 9, 1928.

F. WINKLER MANUFACTURING FUEL GAS Filed Sept. 27, 1925 INVENTOR FriMink/er flTORNEYS Patented Oct. 9, 192a.

"UNlTED STATES FBITZ WINKLER, OF LUDWTGSHAFEN-ON-THE-RHINE, GERMANY,ASSIGNOR TO I. G.

FARBENINDUSTRIE AK 'TI ENGESELILSCHAFT, 0F

MANY, A'OOBPORATION OI GERMANY.

FRANKFORT-ON-THE-MAIN, GER- MANUI'AGTUBING FUEL GAS Application filedSeptember 27, 1923, Serial No. 665,221, and in Germany September 27,1922.

'Fuel gas, such as producer gas or blue water gas or mixed coal andwater gas has hitherto usually been made from coke in coarse lumps byallowing steam and air,

either alternately or jointly, to react with the said coke, wh1ch is inan. incandescent state. Pulverulent coal has also been used forproducing combustible gases, either in the form of a shower falling downin a current of air or by means of injection with the air. According tothe usual methods of operation it has not been possible to usesmall-sized carbonaceous material, such as refuse coke, coke breeze,coke from lignite, and the like, in the form of grits and small piecesof pea size for making fuel as. g My invention. relates to an improvedprocess whereby small-sized coal or other carbonaceous' material can beutilized for making fuel gas and consists in charging the small coalmaterial onto a suitable grate or support in a shaft generator, andblowing a gasifying medium, such as air or air and steam through thesaid coal material either alternately or jointly according to the'kindof fuel gas desired with sufficient pressure to bring about a strongagitation in the form of ,a so-to-say boiling motion of the material. Onthe other hand the blast of gas should not be so strong as to carry awaythe solid fuel and blow it out of the generator. A free passage of thegases is secured and when the layer, or bed, of fuel is not too low thematerial is thoroughly mixed while its com bustion is not concentratedlocally but well distributed throughout the whole mass, a uniformtemperature being thereby established. The ashes do not melt together.In many cases, particularly when using lignite, the ashes are carriedalong with the gases and can be deposited in an adjacent dust chamber.

When the gas generator is .to be set into operation, about one cubicmetre of incandescent coke made from lignite, for example, coke thegrains of which have a size of between and 10 millimetres, is introducedby means of the hopper G onto the fire-clay layer C resting on the grateB of about one square metre area. 1000 cubic metres of air are thenblown in per hour through the pipe D. The glowing coke is at onceagitated throughout so that the charge assumes an appearance similar tothat of a boiling liq- 111d.- The temperature of the coke rapidlyncreases and fresh coke made from lignite is suppl ed by the hopper Guntil the Bed of fuel n the generator A has a height of 150 centimetres.By the introduction of the fresh coke the temperature of the fuel bedfalls, but uniform temperature throughout the whole mass of fuel is versoon established, as can be determined a number of suitable thermostatsor the li e arranged above the grate and Within the body of thegenerator A, This is due to the strong a itation of the mass and is alsopromoted by the higher weight per unit of volume of the cold coke madefrom lignite in comparison with the glowing coke. While one litre of theglowing coke has a weight of about 500 grams, one litre of the cold cokemade from lignite has a weight of about 700 grams. Thls assists the coldcoke in sinking down- 1n, and mixing with the mass of glowing fuel whichis continuously maintained in the strongly agitated state above comparedwith a boilin liquid by the gases continuously flowing t rough thecharge of the fuel. The similarity of the charge of glowing fuel with aboiling liquid is in fact a very striking one. It may be demonstrated asfollows: The body of the generator A is provided in its upper part withan observation window and with an opening about 20 centimetres indiameter which is arranged about 50 centimetresabove the upper level ofthe incandescentmass. in at D is now reduced to about 300 cubic metresper hour. By means of the observation window it is now seen that theentire charge of coke is in a slightly undulating the charge of theincandescent fuel and the water vapor escaping from the moist woodthrowsup a number of small coal particles similar to a fountain. After someminutes the Wood has become charred and now is carried upwards to thesurface of the fuel The amount of air blown bed where the lump or lumpsof charcoal now swim on the surface of the coke bed, just as wood "swimson water. When through the said opening above the char e of coke acurrent of air is blown in an o lique direction onto the surface of thecharge,

the air current throws up waves just as would be the case with water. Itwill be obvious from these explanations that the charge of fuel in mygenerator has a very striking behaviour. Though it is continuously inmotion and the single particles of fuel are continuously whirled up anddown, the whole mass is rather compact, much more than would be the casefor example, when allowing a fine powdery material to fall down in astagnant or streaming mass of gas. Accordingly each particle of fuel isbrought into intimate contact with the gas blownin from below, but notwith so much gas that an undue removal of heat and dilution of thereaction product between the gas and the fuel would be caused. Owing tothe intense agitation of the fuel particles, the entire charge of fuelhas a very uniform temperature. The slags formed sink down onto thegrate similar to the lump of iron in the above described experiments.The fine ashes of the lignite coke are for the most part carried away bythe gas current and may be separated from the gases in any suitablemanner after they have left the generator. It is characteristic of myinvention that the entire bed of fuel is kept in continuous agitation bymeans of the gas current blown through the charge from below, whetherthis 1s air or steam or other gasifying medium, and that this state ofcontinuous agitation is maintained merely by the gas current and withoutany mechanical means.

My invention will be more fully explained with reference to the annexeddiagrammatical drawing showinga vertical section which explains themanufacture of blue water gas from lignite coke but the invention is notrestricted to this example.

Lignite coke is placed in a cylindrical shaft generator'A, which isconically reduced at its bottom and there contains, as a grate,i. aperforated plate of fireclay B carrying a layer C of pieces of about twoinches thickness of fireclay of about nut size. The coke is ignited andair blown in from below through the inlet pipe D first at a moderatepressure, which gradually is raised until the particles. of cokecommence to execute a vigorous Whlllll'lg movement so that the massassumes an appearance of boiling. The gases of combustion or air blastgases containing finally up to 30 per cent, by volume, of carbon monoxidand 2. er cent of carbon dioxid, take the light as es along, removingthe greater part of the ashes from the gas generating chamber, and thenare conveyed through a dust chamber where the ashes are caused todeposit. This dust chamber may be of the usual form and requires nodetailed description, and has also been omitted from the drawing. When atemperature of about 1100 degrees centigrade is reached, the supply ofair is cut off and steam which is admitted through pipe E is blownthrough the incandescent coke at a similar pressure, or speed, tomaintain .ing. Fresh coke is supplied when necessar in a convenientmanner from the hopper H is a discharge opening through which ashes maybe removed if necessary. Small sized lignite itself may be used insteadof lignite coke, or small-sized coke or hard or soft coal.

"I claim: 1. The process of manufacturing fuel gas in a generator havinga bed of small-sized,

incandescent solid carbonaceous material supported by a grate,consisting in blowing a gas adapted to produce fuel gas throu h saidmaterial with sufficient speed to esta lish a boiling action in thematerial, thereby causing gasification thereof by reaction between theincandescent material and the gas.

2. The process of manufacturing fuel gas in a generator having a bed ofsmall-sized, incandescent solid carbonaceous material,

supported by a grate, consisting in blowing air and steam through saidmaterial with sufficient speed to establish a boiling action in thematerial, thereby causing gasification thereof by reaction between theincandescent material and the air and steam.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

FRITZ VVINKLER.

